Emily was in a good mood coming home from work that day. Well, she was usually in a good mood, but today was still special due to the promotion she'd received from work. Starting in two weeks, she would be on a trial period for the baking team at the shop she worked at. This meant actually more hands-on involvement with the process and more complicated recipes. So far she'd mostly been front counter and clean-up help, only doing simple things like cookies and sheet cakes. But now...now she was on to more exciting things like donuts, coffee cakes, pies, and breads!
Of course, this all meant she'd have to get to work by one in the morning, but such was the sacrifice of doing what she loved. True, it broke curfew, but if she was appointed the position, then surely she had permission. She could hardly wait!
With a bounce in her step, Emily walked into the front doors of the complex...and nearly right into someone else. With a startled noise she halted in time to prevent mowing the girl in front of her.
"Oh, sorry! I didn't see you there. Um..." She peered closer as the other girl turned around to look at her. Her hair reminded Emily of Gen's (although Gen's was far brighter) and her eyes...well, she might almost say Gray's but it felt like there was more blue in this girl's, and they were darker. Still, such an unusual combination, and she looked so tired. Like something had sucked the healthy glow right out of her.
Emily really needed to stop these sad first impressions she got about some people.
The inside of the complex was just as pretty as the outside, though it wasn't as ostentatious as one might expect it to be. Morgan wasn't sure if she was expecting gold and teak and chandeliers, but the lack didn't make the building less beautiful. More cozy, maybe. Although at the same time - when you considered the hard stone floor - more cold.
The door creaked open behind her, faster than she could react. The woman skittered forward nervously a step, clutching the key to her chest. Another tenant had just stepped in, a perky young thing who didn't look like she had the money to live here. Unless she had somehow handed up with a key in her glove compartment one day?
Morgan blinked at the question. Did she live here? Well, not technically. She shouldn't be here at all, really; she should be in northern Oregon by now, ready to reach Washington if not already there. But she'd wasted a night crashing in her jeep at the gas station, and then all day trying to get out of the city...
She shouldn't be here, but she was. That certainly didn't mean she lived here. But the girl asked her a question, so Morgan just wordlessly raised the key to her apartment, dangling it by the little room-number tag.
While Morgan may not have been able to make sense of what was happening, a suddenly light of comprehension dawned on Emily's face.
"Oh, you're new, aren't you. Uh." Thinking about it now, Emily had never directly welcomed a new person before. Usually she just heard about or felt them soon after they settled into their places here, and by then they'd already been filled in on most of the strangeness that was Truth and Consequences. Emily bit her lip uncertainly, not sure where to start.
"This is all going to be really weird for you then. I'm not sure how to start explaining... Well." She smiled and held out a hand. "I'm Emily for starters. It's nice to meet you. What's your name?"
Oh. The inevitable introductions. Should she really be giving out her name, though? Was Emily even this girl's real name? Well, with the cute little apron getup and the angel shoulder wing things, there was a good chance it really was, but looks could be deceiving. Emily might even be in on the whole no-way-out-of-town thing. She might even been the ring-leader.
So what if that sounded like paranoid delusion. Morgan was allowed to be paranoid right now.
In the end, after a short pause, she decided to go ahead and give her name. Rather than shaking hands, though, she made a short, sharp gesture towards her neck, rather like the slit-your-throat gesture often used in movies, and pulled a small notebook pen out of her back jeans pocket with the other. A quick scribble, and she raised the paid for Emily to see:
Emily blinked, confused (and a little wary) of the slit-throat gesture at first but soon more curious as to what the pen and paper were for. She read the name and stared at it for a bit before looking back up at, "...Morgan? That's your name?"
The girl nodded. Emily looked at the paper and then back to girl behind it. "Are you deaf? No, wait..." That didn't make sense. She'd obviously heard her question. Or maybe she could read lips... No, wait, she was shaking her head, so no, she was saying she wasn't deaf. Good. Emily didn't know a lick of sign language. But if she wrote her answers down... "You can't talk?" The girl nodded again.
A mute. Hmm, that would make conversation a bit more difficult for her. But that didn't mean she wouldn't try to be as accommodating as possible. Emily was still able to remember the relief she had when Gen showed her around.
"Well, I can answer a few questions I'm sure you already have. Like the key for one thing, right?" Emily held out her hand. "Mind if I see it? I can take you to your room if you want."
For some reason, she felt a bit of hesitance in just handing over that key. But then again, she'd never wanted the key to begin with. She didn't want to stay here, she wanted to leave. She had places she needed to go and money she needed to make in order to pay for a passport and a plane ticket to Australia.
But the other girl was offering to answer questions, and if she decided to keep the key, it was no skin of Morgan's back. So it was after a moment to thoughtful hesitance that she handed the key over, dropping it into Emily's outstretched hand without actually touching her.
"Five-D," she read aloud upon looking at the key chain. "Hey, that's the same floor I live on! I'm in 5B." Emily considered warning Morgan about their lively neighbor in 5C but it seemed rude to speak that way about Ravyn. Besides, she wasn't screaming in anyone's head anymore, so the worst was over. (Right?)
"It's just up the stairs. Uh, I haven't found an elevator to this place yet, but...well." Emily knew she wasn't the person in the best shape to be climbing all those stairs, but somehow the climb never felt long. Strange, she'd never thought about that very much before. "Follow me."
Emily talked as they climbed the stairs, mostly about rent and the landlady (keeping as diplomatic as possible) and how she still hadn't been able to find the main office. It wasn't until they were closer however that she began to touch upon things that were probably of greater interest.
"Um, you're probably really wondering about this place, aren't you, and how you have a key to it." She glanced back and saw Morgan nod. "Well the truth is...I'm not sure. But we're all like that. Everyone in this building. We showed up in town and realized we had a place here. Well, an apartment anyway, like someone was expecting us." She stepped out into the fifth floor, turning to let Morgan catch up beside her. "I'm not sure who, but...well... Have you met anyone named Bob or Lou yet?"
Morgan absorbed the information provided to her with the ease of someone who'd decided they were dreaming or stoned and it was easier to just go along with the flow than question it. Five hundred dollar a month stipend and no rent for no good reason? What the hell! Sitting on her ass doing nothing was a pretty nice way to make money. Now if she would just wake up...
She actually stopped to consider the last question though. Bob or Lou? No, she didn't think so - or at least, none of the name-tags of the clerks had said that, and no one else had volunteered their names when she'd stopped to ask for directions. Although.... that first clerk, last night, when she'd driven into town... had he worn a name tag...?
Finally, she settled on shaking her head to the negative. If she had met a Bob or a Lou, they hadn't made their identity clear to her.
"Oh. Well, you'll probably meet them soon. They're kind of hard to miss." Unless of course they didn't want to be found. "From what I've been able to tell, I think they're the ones in charge of this place. And by this place, I mean the city. I'm not a hundred percent sure about that, of course, but all city announcements are made by them and they seem to know the most about what's going on, so..."
Emily had a feeling they both knew exactly what she was too. In a way it was nice to know someone did, and if she ever gathered up the courage, she planned to ask one or both of them to tell her how it is she even exists, and why. If she knew anyone in this town could tell her for sure, her best chances laid within either one of them.
But she hadn't gathered that courage yet. It was scary, facing beings that omniscient, and she wasn't that curious yet.
She pointed at her apartment as they passed it, welcoming Morgan to drop by any time she needed something, and then came to a stop in front of 5D. Emily turned back to her.
"I should probably warn you about this next part. Your apartment is going to be...well, it tends to be familiar to most people. Mine was like my parents' house back when..." She trailed off and looked to Morgan, wondering if maybe she was making this sound worse than it was. (Or maybe as bad as it really was.) Clearing her throat, Emily handed the key back. "It's just going to be weird. Like, really weird. Might freak you out a bit, but, it's yours now."
Of course, this all meant she'd have to get to work by one in the morning, but such was the sacrifice of doing what she loved. True, it broke curfew, but if she was appointed the position, then surely she had permission. She could hardly wait!
With a bounce in her step, Emily walked into the front doors of the complex...and nearly right into someone else. With a startled noise she halted in time to prevent mowing the girl in front of her.
"Oh, sorry! I didn't see you there. Um..." She peered closer as the other girl turned around to look at her. Her hair reminded Emily of Gen's (although Gen's was far brighter) and her eyes...well, she might almost say Gray's but it felt like there was more blue in this girl's, and they were darker. Still, such an unusual combination, and she looked so tired. Like something had sucked the healthy glow right out of her.
Emily really needed to stop these sad first impressions she got about some people.
"Do you live here?"
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The door creaked open behind her, faster than she could react. The woman skittered forward nervously a step, clutching the key to her chest. Another tenant had just stepped in, a perky young thing who didn't look like she had the money to live here. Unless she had somehow handed up with a key in her glove compartment one day?
Morgan blinked at the question. Did she live here? Well, not technically. She shouldn't be here at all, really; she should be in northern Oregon by now, ready to reach Washington if not already there. But she'd wasted a night crashing in her jeep at the gas station, and then all day trying to get out of the city...
She shouldn't be here, but she was. That certainly didn't mean she lived here. But the girl asked her a question, so Morgan just wordlessly raised the key to her apartment, dangling it by the little room-number tag.
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"Oh, you're new, aren't you. Uh." Thinking about it now, Emily had never directly welcomed a new person before. Usually she just heard about or felt them soon after they settled into their places here, and by then they'd already been filled in on most of the strangeness that was Truth and Consequences. Emily bit her lip uncertainly, not sure where to start.
"This is all going to be really weird for you then. I'm not sure how to start explaining... Well." She smiled and held out a hand. "I'm Emily for starters. It's nice to meet you. What's your name?"
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So what if that sounded like paranoid delusion. Morgan was allowed to be paranoid right now.
In the end, after a short pause, she decided to go ahead and give her name. Rather than shaking hands, though, she made a short, sharp gesture towards her neck, rather like the slit-your-throat gesture often used in movies, and pulled a small notebook pen out of her back jeans pocket with the other. A quick scribble, and she raised the paid for Emily to see:
Reply
The girl nodded. Emily looked at the paper and then back to girl behind it. "Are you deaf? No, wait..." That didn't make sense. She'd obviously heard her question. Or maybe she could read lips... No, wait, she was shaking her head, so no, she was saying she wasn't deaf. Good. Emily didn't know a lick of sign language. But if she wrote her answers down... "You can't talk?" The girl nodded again.
A mute. Hmm, that would make conversation a bit more difficult for her. But that didn't mean she wouldn't try to be as accommodating as possible. Emily was still able to remember the relief she had when Gen showed her around.
"Well, I can answer a few questions I'm sure you already have. Like the key for one thing, right?" Emily held out her hand. "Mind if I see it? I can take you to your room if you want."
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But the other girl was offering to answer questions, and if she decided to keep the key, it was no skin of Morgan's back. So it was after a moment to thoughtful hesitance that she handed the key over, dropping it into Emily's outstretched hand without actually touching her.
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"It's just up the stairs. Uh, I haven't found an elevator to this place yet, but...well." Emily knew she wasn't the person in the best shape to be climbing all those stairs, but somehow the climb never felt long. Strange, she'd never thought about that very much before. "Follow me."
Emily talked as they climbed the stairs, mostly about rent and the landlady (keeping as diplomatic as possible) and how she still hadn't been able to find the main office. It wasn't until they were closer however that she began to touch upon things that were probably of greater interest.
"Um, you're probably really wondering about this place, aren't you, and how you have a key to it." She glanced back and saw Morgan nod. "Well the truth is...I'm not sure. But we're all like that. Everyone in this building. We showed up in town and realized we had a place here. Well, an apartment anyway, like someone was expecting us." She stepped out into the fifth floor, turning to let Morgan catch up beside her. "I'm not sure who, but...well... Have you met anyone named Bob or Lou yet?"
Reply
She actually stopped to consider the last question though. Bob or Lou? No, she didn't think so - or at least, none of the name-tags of the clerks had said that, and no one else had volunteered their names when she'd stopped to ask for directions. Although.... that first clerk, last night, when she'd driven into town... had he worn a name tag...?
Finally, she settled on shaking her head to the negative. If she had met a Bob or a Lou, they hadn't made their identity clear to her.
Reply
Emily had a feeling they both knew exactly what she was too. In a way it was nice to know someone did, and if she ever gathered up the courage, she planned to ask one or both of them to tell her how it is she even exists, and why. If she knew anyone in this town could tell her for sure, her best chances laid within either one of them.
But she hadn't gathered that courage yet. It was scary, facing beings that omniscient, and she wasn't that curious yet.
She pointed at her apartment as they passed it, welcoming Morgan to drop by any time she needed something, and then came to a stop in front of 5D. Emily turned back to her.
"I should probably warn you about this next part. Your apartment is going to be...well, it tends to be familiar to most people. Mine was like my parents' house back when..." She trailed off and looked to Morgan, wondering if maybe she was making this sound worse than it was. (Or maybe as bad as it really was.) Clearing her throat, Emily handed the key back. "It's just going to be weird. Like, really weird. Might freak you out a bit, but, it's yours now."
Reply
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